I'm a newly licensed attorney looking for a job. I graduated from law school in 2015 but had family problems after law school. So I took a year off for taking the bar exam then I worked at whatever job I could take the bills. I went to law school in Maryland as an out-of-state student, knowing that we'd be moving back to the state I'm from to practice law thereafter.
I finally took the bar in the state, and i pass, but it also took a bit for me to get the funds to finally move back. Here's my question. On my resume, should I show all of the non-legal work experience I've had done since graduated from law school? To avoid employment gaps in my resume, or should I only list my job and internship experience during law school that is relevant to the practice of law, even though I graduated two years ago?
If it was me, I think I would have a section that says legal experience and non-legal experience. What you told me just now in this question, I would explain it in my cover letter, the reasons you're just starting now.
And I think that would probably be the best method for covering that. I do think anytime there's a large gap in your resume from when you start and when you didn't, it's always a good idea to have an explanation. If the jobs really aren't that related, you may just want to take off all the non-legal experience.
I don't know what it is exactly. But I would think about how you would do that. If you want to ask for a follow-up, I would. The problem is anytime you take time off the practice law before starting, there is a perception that maybe you're doing that because you don't want to practice law. That's what you want to avoid.
That's what I would recommend. Whatever you can do there will be helpful.
